Americans must find a way to overcome their divisions, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has said
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. © Sergey Bobylev / RIA Novosti
Regardless of whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump comes out on top in the election, the American people will need to find a way to overcome their internal divide and animosity towards political opponents, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
She made the statement in a comment to RT on Tuesday, as Americans went to vote in what have pollsters predicted to be one of the closest presidential races in US history.
“I think that the main challenge for America as a nation and as a people right now, is ensuring that these results are accepted by society, given the experience of past elections,” Zakharova said. “Secondly, whatever that outcome is, obviously they’re going to have to overcome the internal emotional divide.”
The diplomat noted that some people in the US are ready to come to blows over which candidate they support.
“You see how people are literally ready to attack each other, beat each other, just because the other person wears symbols or campaigns for the politician they trust,” Zakharova said, adding that has already led to violence on US streets. The solution is unclear because the situation is “unprecedented,” according to Zakharova.
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The 2024 election cycle has seen both sides using ever more contentious rhetoric as the vote approached. According to a recent YouGov poll, some 27% of Americans feel that a civil war is likely to break out following the election. Around 84% of respondents agreed that US society is more divided than it was ten years ago.
Election Day has already been marred by multiple false bomb threats and allegations of voting irregularities. At least two men have been arrested due to election-related threats of violence. Isaac Sissel, 25, was arrested for sending the FBI an anonymous message promising he would use a “stolen AR-15” to “carry out an attack against conservative Christian filth in the event Trump wins the election.” Christopher Pierce, 46, sent death threats to an unnamed political fundraising group, according to the DOJ.
Trump himself has faced at least two assassination attempts this year in the course of his reelection campaign.